Or at least a new woodblock…

I had printmaking class last night and was not in the mood to drag out old blocks or iron linen.  I mean, I do want to print up more linen and I know exactly which blocks I want to try out, but I needed a break.  So I decided to work on a new woodblock – I hadn’t carved anything in ages.  And I decided to carve a block for the PrintZero print exchange coming up in July.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t usually plan this far in advance, but time flies and I knew if I didn’t take advantage of having the time to do it now I’d end up rushing things. 

So, I found a block in my stash the right size and sat down to sketch.  I’d been pouring through a couple of books lately, by and about a needlework artist named Mariska Karasz.  The design on the right reminded me of onions so I set about to sketch onions in the soil. 

Since my last big piece I’ve been trying to capture the idea of layers of soil and wanted to work on that some more.  I also wanted to try moving over to something more abstract.  I transferred my sketch to my woodblock then used a watercolor wash to paint in the areas I didn’t want to carve.  This helps me to check that I’ve a good balance in my design. 

I’m almost finished.  Another hour of carving and some wire brush and it will be ready for a test drive.  I’ll have to decide whether or not to add color with chine colle, what color to print it in, etc.  I’m excited.